Right after New York, we flew to Seattle and got on a bus to Vancouver where we met up with some friends and set of for some fun in the snow in Whistler the next morning. Later on Saturday night, my sister Lotte and cousin Jon also showed up, ready to hit the slopes on Sunday.
As luck would have it (as luck always seems to have it when I go on a ski trip) the resort had a record breaking snowfall this season. That is, right up until a week before we arrived there. We had some on the saturday we got there and another small dropping later in the week, but that was it. (obviously, right after we left, they had snow again pretty much every day) I am starting to think I should stop bothering.
That said, the first day, Sunday, was the best I probably ever had with a nice layer of powder and we were racing down the blues (that's reds to Europeans) immediately. But Monday was decidedly icy and it was then I made the only fall of the week - not even a hard one - and I managed to hit my left arm just right to pop out my shoulder. Great. This happened once before in Düsseldorf many moons ago and they say once you have done it once, it is more likely to happen again.
Ski potrol was on the case pretty quick and I managed to get it set on the mountain (with some laughing gas to take the edge off) and got a snowmobile ride down to the gondola. That was me out of the running. Well, for 24 hours anyway; I was only there for a week and the show had to go on. I did have to take it easy the rest of the week, being just too afraid to fall again. Wednesday and Thursday a little bit of extra snow, higher temperatures and a little rain, the top layer became soft enough again to do some good boarding. But friday was sheet ice again of the worst kind and I gave up after an hour or two; I just wasn't having any fun.
Kylie had three full days of lessons together with Lotte and they really improved a lot over the week and at the end of it were very comfortable on those blues and even simpler blacks as well.
After spending another night in Vancouver we got a coach down to Bellingham, WA, where 3rd cousin Erin picked us up for a family get-together at 2nd cousin Willy's place in Stanwood. It was good to see everyone again, and some not-so new borns for the first time since I last visitted over 10 years ago.
We spent two more days there; on Monday Kylie went horse riding with Willy and some of her friends and still can't get the smile of her face while Willy's husband, Rob, and I drove to Camano Island for some geocaching. We managed to find one of the caches we were looking for and I placed in the Geo Coin I picked up in the Netherlands in December. We spent Tuesday exploring Seattle a bit and buying some more travel stuff at REI, most likely the worlds greatest outdoor store.
Next up was flying back to Amsterdam (via a very snowed in New York) and then back over the Atlantic a day later to go to Mexico City, where I am writing this. Tomorrow morning we catch a flight to Havana for a week in Cuba. After crossing one continent and the Atlantic (twice) in less than three days, I for one am looking forward to spending a week in the Sun.
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